COVID-19

You will need a linking code and a CRN. Centrelink will contact you and provide this to you.

Sign in to myGov and link to Centrelink.

Select Payments and Claims > Claims > Make a claim.

Select Get started from the category that best describes your circumstance.

Answer all the questions and submit supporting documents and completed forms.

Submit your claim.

If you need to provide more details, Centrelink will contact you to follow it up.

While you’re waiting for a response, you can track your claim. You will receive an ID number and the estimated date of claim completion.

Should I apply for the Jobseeker payment or the Jobkeeper payment? What’s the difference?

It helps to know what you’re applying for before you apply. These schemes have caused a great deal of confusion for workers and employers, but hopefully this explainer can help.

The Jobkeeper payment is a $130bn support package introduced by the Australian Government to keep people in work during the COVID-19 crisis.

It will pay eligible employees a minimum of $1500 per fortnight (before tax) by their employers who are provided the money by the Government. The first of these payments will be received at the beginning of May. Your employer should notify you if you they want to claim the payment on your behalf.

To be eligible for the Jobkeeper payment, employers and employees must meet a range of criteria.

Click here for criteria for employees.

Click here for criteria for employers.

The Jobseeker payment, formerly known as Newstart, is a payment to assist people looking for work or who have lost work during this time. The Jobseeker payment, combined with the COVID-19 supplement, is $1,100, being $400 less than the Jobkeeper payment. You can only receive one payment at a time, Jobkeeper or Jobseeker, so make sure you know what to apply for.

To receive the Jobseeker payment, you must be between 22 and pension age and looking for work, or sick and injured and can’t work for a while. If you’ve applied for Newstart in the past, you might notice that some of the Centrelink procedures have changed. You can read about these changes here.

Unless you have an exemption, you will have to actively look for work in order to receive the payment. The payment is paid through Centrelink every two weeks.

Click here for criteria for the Jobseeker payment.

Have a look at these steps if you need more help with applying for the Jobseeker payment.

Initiatives include:

$20 million Business Improvement Scheme

All Territory businesses will be able to access a $10,000 grant. For works exceeding $10,000, the Territory Government will match the extra value dollar-for-dollar up to an additional $10,000 (with the maximum Government contribution being $20,000).

More information can be found here. 

$50 million Small Business Survival Fund

This fund is designed to support businesses in industries such as retail, leisure and recreation, hospitality, tourism, beauty and personal care services and entertainment.

Rapid adaption payments ranging from $1,000 to $5,000 are available as well as Immediate Survival Payments ranging from $2,000 to $50,000. Businesses that are eligible for the Immediate Survival Payment will also be automatically eligible for additional payments as part of the Territory Government’s Jobkeeper gap-filling plan.

The $20 million gap-filler builds on the Small Business Survival Fund by helping to cover the costs of rent and utilities, invoice payments and wages. It will support people who are not eligible for the Federal Government’s Jobkeeper payment, such as some casuals, recently-employed workers and visa holder workers.

More information can be found here.

Click here to see the Territory Governments media release.

There is also a freezing of government fees, charges and electricity prices, meaning that there will be no increase due to indexation until July 2021.

Processes for obtaining a grant will also be fast tracked.